Apple Inc. $AAPL Shares Sold by Meritage Portfolio Management

Key Points

• Meritage Portfolio Management trimmed its Apple stake by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, but Apple remains its largest holding at 5.9% of the portfolio, worth about $89.3 million.
• Apple’s latest quarterly results were strong, with EPS of $2.01 and revenue of $111.18 billion, both beating estimates and helping drive a post-earnings rally to record highs.
• The company also boosted its quarterly dividend to $0.27 per share and authorized a fresh $100 billion share buyback, while analysts remained broadly bullish with a consensus Moderate Buy rating.

Meritage Portfolio Management reduced its position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 328,546 shares of the iPhone maker's stock after selling 6,121 shares during the quarter. Apple comprises approximately 5.9% of Meritage Portfolio Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Meritage Portfolio Management's holdings in Apple were worth $89,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AAPL. Isthmus Partners LLC raised its stake in Apple by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Isthmus Partners LLC now owns 97,177 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 5,808 shares during the last quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in Apple by 110.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC now owns 135 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC raised its stake in Apple by 1,800.0% in the 1st quarter. ROSS JOHNSON & Associates LLC now owns 190 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Apple in the 4th quarter valued at $65,000. Finally, 49 Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Apple by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. 49 Wealth Management LLC now owns 298,920 shares of the iPhone maker's stock valued at $76,000 after purchasing an additional 40,543 shares during the last quarter. 67.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Apple News

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s post-earnings rally continues after the company posted record quarterly revenue and EPS, boosted its dividend, and authorized a fresh $100 billion buyback. Analysts say the results support further upside and have raised price targets. Apple Stock Hits All-Time High as Post-Earnings Rally Continues
• Positive Sentiment: Evercore ISI lifted its price target on Apple to $365 and said a bull-case scenario could reach $500, citing compounding growth from Services and Apple’s ability to keep expanding free cash flow. Evercore ISI Hikes Apple Price Target to $365
• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment is being helped by reports that iPhone demand remains strong globally, plus Soros Fund Management reportedly boosted its Apple position during the quarter. George Soros’s fund buys Berkshire Hathaway stock — now that Buffett is gone
• Positive Sentiment: Apple reportedly cut iPhone 17 prices in China ahead of the 618 shopping festival, which could help support unit sales in a key market. Apple Cuts iPhone 17 Prices in China
• Neutral Sentiment: OpenAI is considering legal action over its strained ChatGPT partnership with Apple, which adds uncertainty around Apple’s AI strategy and could weigh on sentiment if the dispute escalates. OpenAI explores legal options against Apple
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that Anthropic’s Mythos AI found vulnerabilities in Apple’s macOS/iOS are a reminder of ongoing security scrutiny, but the news is more reputational than fundamentally financial for now. Anthropic's Mythos Helped Find Bugs in Apple's Desktop Operating System

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ben Borders sold 1,274 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $290.00, for a total value of $369,460.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 38,713 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,226,770. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total value of $16,511,984.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 97,759 shares of company stock worth $24,964,305. Company insiders own 0.06% of the company's stock.

Apple Stock Performance

Shares of Apple stock opened at $300.23 on Monday. Apple Inc. has a 52 week low of $193.46 and a 52 week high of $303.20. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $265.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $267.47. The firm has a market cap of $4.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 36.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. Apple had a return on equity of 146.69% and a net margin of 27.15%.The business had revenue of $111.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.65 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 11th were paid a $0.27 dividend. This is a boost from Apple's previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Apple's dividend payout ratio is currently 13.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AAPL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Bank of America upped their target price on Apple from $320.00 to $325.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Apple in a report on Friday, May 8th. Moffett Nathanson upped their target price on Apple from $241.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 25th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Apple from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup restated a "buy" rating on shares of Apple in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $308.74.

Apple Company Profile

Apple Inc NASDAQ: AAPL is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple's principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.

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